Three new species, Lamellodiscus tubulicornis n. sp., L. magnicornis n. sp. and L. parvicornis n. sp. (Monogenea: Diplectanidae) from Gymnocranius spp. (Lethrinidae: Monotaxinae) off New Caledonia, with the proposal of the new morphological group ‘tubulicornis’ within Lamellodiscus Johnston & Tiegs, 1922

Abstract

Three new species of Lamellodiscus are described from four (including two undescribed) species of Gymnocranius off New Caledonia, South Pacific. All three species have a similar body anatomy and morphology of the haptoral hard parts and are distinguished on the basis of the male copulatory organ (MCO). Lamellodiscustubulicornis n. sp. (type-host: G. grandoculis; other host: Gymnocranius sp. B) has an MCO with a tube and horn; L. magnicornis n. sp. (type-host: G. grandoculis; other hosts: G. euanus, Gymnocranius sp. A and Gymnocranius sp. B) has an MCO with a long horn and a membrane; L. parvicornis n. sp. (type-host: G. euanus; other hosts: G. grandoculis and Gymnocranius sp. B) has an MCO with a small horn and a membrane. Lamellodiscus epsilon Yamaguti, 1968 is redescribed based on the type-specimens (from Monotaxis grandoculis off Hawaii). Lamellodiscus sp. is recorded from Gnathodentex aureolineatus off New Caledonia. All these five species have lamellodiscs that exhibit a unique characteristic: the second lamella forms an almost closed circle, in contrast to all other described species of Lamellodiscus in which the second lamella has the form of one or two crescents. Lamellodiscus spp. are usually classified in two groups, the ‘ignoratus’ and ‘elegans’ groups, according to the structure of the lamellodisc; we propose a new ‘tubulicornis’ group for these five species. In addition to their lamellodisc structure, species of the tubulicornis group are also characterised by their egg (elongate in contrast to tetrahedral in the two other groups) and their hosts (monotaxine lethrinids as opposed to mainly sparids). The generic diagnosis of Lamellodiscus given by Amine & Euzet (2005) is amended to include species with elongate eggs.

Keywords

Male Copulatory Organ Intestinal Bifurcation United States National Parasite Collection Head Organ Vitelline Field

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Desdevises, Y. (2001). The phylogenetic position of Furnestinia echeneis (Monogenea, Diplectanidae) based on molecular data: a case of morphological adaptation? International Journal for Parasitology,31, 205–208.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Johnston, T. A., & Tiegs, O. W. (1922). New gyrodactyloid trematodes from Australian fishes together with a reclassification of the super-family Gyrodactyloidea. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,47, 83–129.Google Scholar

Justine, J.-L. (2004). Three new species of Huffmanela Moravec, 1987 (Nematoda: Trichosomoididae) from the gills of marine fish off New Caledonia. Systematic Parasitology,59, 29–37.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Justine, J.-L. (2005). Species of Pseudorhabdosynochus Yamaguti, 1958 (Monogenea: Diplectanidae) from Epinephelus fasciatus and E. merra (Perciformes: Serranidae) off New Caledonia and other parts of the Indo-Pacific Ocean, with a comparison of measurements of specimens prepared using different methods, and a description of P. caledonicus n. sp. Systematic Parasitology,62, 1–37.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Justine, J.-L. (2007b). Species of Calydiscoides Young, 1969 (Monogenea: Diplectanidae) from lethrinid fishes, with the redescription of all of the type-specimens and the description of C. euzeti n. sp. from Lethrinus rubrioperculatus and L. xanthochilus off New Caledonia. Systematic Parasitology,67, 187–209.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Miller, T. L., & Cribb, T. H. (2007). Phylogenetic relationships of some common Indo-Pacific snappers (Perciformes: Lutjanidae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences, with comments on the taxonomic position of the Caesioninae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution,44, 450–460.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Rascalou, G., & Justine, J.-L. (2007). Three species of Calydiscoides (Monogenea: Diplectanidae) from five Lethrinus spp. (Lethrinidae: Perciformes) off New Caledonia, with a description of Calydiscoides terpsichore sp. n. Folia Parasitologica,54, 191–202.PubMedGoogle Scholar

Sigura, A., & Justine, J.-L. (2008). Monogeneans of the speckled blue grouper, Epinephelus cyanopodus (Perciformes, Serranidae), from off New Caledonia, with a description of four new species of Pseudorhabdosynochus and one new species of Laticola (Monogenea: Diplectanidae), and evidence of monogenean faunal changes according to the size of fish. Zootaxa,1695, 1–44.Google Scholar